American Securities Association (ASA) is a trade association representing small and regional financial services companies. ¹

Advocacy

American Securities Association advocates for business, market, regulatory, and legislative policies that support the interest of its members. This includes promoting financial inclusion policies, which would ensure investor protections while creating prosperity in communities. ASA promotes the expansion of investment opportunities for individuals, making it easier to save for retirement. ASA also supports policies to make capital formation easier in order make the process of going public easier for small businesses. ²

ASA advocates for differentiated regulation, taking a financial firm’s size, economic risk, and business model into consideration, which it claims more positively impacts regional firms, small businesses, and retail investors. ³  ASA further claims that the market structure needs to better support small businesses and that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should adopt rules for a market structure that acknowledge the existence of different tiers. ⁴

ASA supports reforms to the corporate governance process at the SEC and through Congress that would increase transparency and accountability. While ASA supports the rights of shareholders to hold companies accountable, it claims that large proxy advisory firms have prioritized political agendas over retirement security. ASA also supports policies that protect investor data and advocates for the SEC to end its policy of collecting personal and identifiable information through its Consolidated Audit Trail government database. ⁵

Funding

American Securities Association is funded through full and associate memberships, offered to financial institutions and service providers to financial services firms, respectively. ⁶

Staff

Chris Iacovella is the president and CEO of the American Securities Association. Iacovella formerly worked as CEO of the Equity Dealers of America, senior director of global government affairs, strategy, and public policy at Bloomberg, and special counsel and policy advisor at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. ⁷

Kelli McMorrow is the senior vice president, head of government affairs, and director of fixed income policy at ASA. McMorrow formerly worked as a senior vice president at the Bond Dealers of America. ⁸

Stephanie Addison is the vice president of public affairs at ASA. Addison formerly worked as the senior communications director for the Farm Credit Council and as press secretary to former Rep. Michael Conaway (R-TX), a former chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. ⁹

Board of Directors

Paul C. Reilly is the chair of the board of ASA and the chair and CEO of Raymond James Financial. Reilly sits on the board of the Financial Services Roundtable and on the executive committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). ¹⁰

Chad Abraham is the chair and CEO of Piper Sandler Companies. Abraham sits on the boards of the Nature Conservancy’s Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota chapter and the Columbus McKinnon Corporation. ¹¹

Steve Booth is the president and CEO of Baird Financial Group and sits on the boards of the Water Council and the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County. ¹²

Curt Bradbury, Jr. is the COO of Stephens Inc. Bradbury formerly sat on the board of SIFMA and the national council of the American Enterprise Institute. ¹³

John Ettelson is the chair of William Blair and the chair of the board of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. ¹⁴

James Kerr is the president and CEO of D.A. Davidson Companies and sits on the board of SIFMA. ¹⁵

Ronald Kruszewski is the president and chair of the board of Stifel Financial Corp. Kruszewski sits on the board of SIFMA. ¹⁶

Douglas Preiser is the COO of KeyBanc Capital Markets and sits on the boards of the American Bankers Association Securities Association and SIFMA. ¹⁷

Jeffrey Solomon is the CEO and chair of Cowen Inc. Solomon sits on the boards of Partnership for New York City and the UJA-Federation of New York. ¹⁸

Joseph Sweeney is the president of advice and wealth management, products, and service delivery at Ameriprise Financial. Sweeney sits on the boards of SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation. ¹⁹

Other members of the board include Dan Arnold, president and CEO of LPL Financial; Joseph D. Culley, Jr., head of capital markets group at Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC; Estee Faranda CEO of PFS Investments; and M. Bradley Winges, president and CEO of Hilltop Securities. ²⁰

1. “About.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/about.
2. “Issues.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/issues.
3. “About.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/about.
4. “Issues.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/issues.
5. “Issues.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/issues.
6. “Home.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/.
7. “Team.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/team.
8. “Team.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/team.
9. “Team.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/team.
10.  “Team.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/team.
11. “Chad Abraham.” Piper Sandler Companies. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.pipersandler.com/2col.aspx?id=6083.
12. “Steve Booth.” Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.rwbaird.com/who-we-are/leadership-team/steve-booth/.
13. “Curt Bradbury.” Stephens, Inc. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.stephens.com/corporate/people/curt-bradbury.
14. “John Ettelson.” William Blair & Company. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.williamblair.com/Bios/John-Ettelson.
15. “James P. Kerr.” D.A. Davidson Companies. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://dadavidson.com/WHO-WE-ARE/Leadership/Leadership-Profiles/ArticleID/41/James-Kerr.
16. “Ronald J. Kruszewski.” Stifel Financial Corp. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.stifel.com/investor-relations/board-of-directors/ronald-j-kruszewski.
17. “Douglas Preiser.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-preiser-304a77a3/.
18. ^[1] “Jeffrey Solomon.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreymsolomon1/.
19. “Joseph E. Sweeney.” Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://newsroom.ameriprise.com/corporate-leadership/biography-joseph-sweeney.htm.
20.  “Team.” American Securities Association. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.americansecurities.org/team.